I was originally going to build up the entire upper from scratch as well, but in the end I decided to go with a pre built upper for this build. It's By Yankee Hill, their Black Diamond Spectre XL and has pretty much the exact setup I was going to put together but all parts are by YHM instead of various manufacturers. The barrel has a low profile Gas Block. It's 16" Chrome Lined 1-9". It's got full length quad rail hand guards. Pop up front and rear iron sights. I'm adding a Forward Vertical Grip, a Tactical Light and a Red Dot Sight for the initial attachments.

I sort of stumbled onto the Punisher Lower and I was stoked that they had it at my local gun shop. So I went with the Punisher theme and got a Punisher logo Charging handle and Ejection Cover just for fun and to add a little personality. I like an all black gun so I went with all black components.

I'm still waiting until I can go pick up the Lower and complete the gun. Here are a few pics of what I have so far.

I had to look up what BRD/EBRD was I am pretty sure I have it bad though!

The Black Diamond Spectre setup was so nice and had everything I wanted so I bit on it. I had all the parts for the upper picked out and in my cart when I saw the Diamond and added it to my cart and removed all the other parts I had picked out and the price actually ended up to be pretty much the same amount within about $40

I pick up my lower and my new Ruger SR40 on Thursday and the last few parts I ordered as well as my ammo should arrive tomorrow so I should hopefully have it built by Friday and can go shoot it on Saturday or Sunday. I'm so excited I have dreams about it!

Well..... I was almost finished with the assembly of my lower last night. I got to the final step of installing the Buttstock and rear takedown pin, but when it was time to insert the detent spring for the rear pin the spring supplied with my kit was too big. I dunno why both the detent springs were not the same, but one of them was the wrong size and now I have to go and see if the gun shop has the right one. Dang it! I WILL FINISH this AR Today! If I have to drive hundreds of miles to track down the right spring I will!

Well..... I was almost finished with the assembly of my lower last night. I got to the final step of installing the Buttstock and rear takedown pin, but when it was time to insert the detent spring for the rear pin the spring supplied with my kit was too big. I dunno why both the detent springs were not the same, but one of them was the wrong size and now I have to go and see if the gun shop has the right one. Dang it! I WILL FINISH this AR Today! If I have to drive hundreds of miles to track down the right spring I will!

Was is too long? If that is the case you can always just cut a couple of coils off to make it work.

Is it possible that the wrong spring was used somewhere else? I know the springs are all close in size, the only way for me to really ID the detent springs is by finding the two that match.

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner. I went over my assembly and found that I had swapped the fire selector spring for one of the detent springs. I got a new Fire selector spring (I stretched the original one pulling it out of the hole for the rear takedown detent spring after I got it stuck) They just gave me the spring at my local gun shop where I got the lower and lower parts kit. The gun is finished and I'll post a few pics momentarily. It looks pretty sweet, now I need to go see how she shoots.

Alright! I have graduated from someone who had no idea about building an AR to someone who has at least assembled a complete lower and attached it to my upper to complete my first AR-15. I'm stoked. I think it came out really nice and I can't wait to go shoot it tomorrow. I'm just drooling over it!

So here are some pics of my assembly and the finished gun. Questions, constructive criticism and comments are welcome of course. Enjoy, I know I have been enjoying the experience.

Thanks for the replies. I did go and shoot it today and she shot fantastic! My Red Dot was easy to zero and stayed accurate after several hundred rounds. I shot a few nice tight groups and I love the Forward Grip/Bi-Pod it rocks, at least at an indoor range shooting from the bench. It also works great as a forward vertical grip is nice and fat and makes a solid grip for a steady shot. Overall I am simply in love with my new Punisher AR. I can't wait to shoot her again!